Movie Substrate · Film

American Ultra (2015)

★ 6.1 · 2,939 ratings on TMDB

Everyone's getting smoked.

American Ultra poster★ 6.1

Mike is an unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe, is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.

DirectorNima Nourizadeh
CastBill Pullman, Connie Britton, Jesse Eisenberg, John Leguizamo, Kristen Stewart, Michael Papajohn
GenresAction, Comedy
The emergence reading

American Ultra keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E11 of the E0–E14 reality ladder.

zero-distanceUS
⇄ Parameter shift — the dial this world turnsrigor: loose
E8memorymemories erased and panic attacks implanted; latent combat abilities unlocked via code words (technology · personal)
Also inFilms that alter a rule of reality
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Same rung, same subject

Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)E8/E11The Truman Show (1998)E8/E11Batman Begins (2005)E8/E11Pulp Fiction (1994)E8/E11Fight Club (1999)E8/E11Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)E8/E11

Same subject, different rung

The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.

The Interview (2014)E9/E12 · Action, ComedyIron Sky (2012)E12/E14 · Action, ComedySahara (2005)E14 · Action, ComedyDragnet (1987)E9/E10 · Action, ComedyIron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)E9/E10 · Action, ComedyDead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014)E6/E9 · Action, Comedy

Also bends a rule of reality

Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.

Avatar (2009)alters at E8 · same rung · looseInception (2010)alters at E8 · same rung · looseSpider-Man: No Way Home (2021)alters at E8 · same rung · looseInside Out (2015)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorousHer (2013)alters at E8 · same rung · looseGhostbusters (1984)alters at E8 · same rung · loose

Same people

Shared director or cast.

Project X (2012)dir. Nima NourizadehPredators (2010)Topher GraceSpawn (1997)John LeguizamoTitan A.E. (2000)Bill PullmanCafé Society (2016)Jesse EisenbergAdventureland (2009)Jesse Eisenberg